Monday, September 13, 2010

It's Been Awhile

It's been a while since I've posted. Life has a tendency of getting in the way of things I want to do.

Since I've last posted, the dealership where I work has lost it's Ford Franchise. I work at a Lincoln Mercury dealership. I've been a Ford Tech since 1983. I've been there since 2003.

While I understand that things happen, I can't help but wonder what Ford is up to.

They took no bailout money, and as such, was not forced to close a bunch of dealerships by the Imperial Federal Government. Which, I might add, costs the manufacturer virtually nothing, as dealerships are independently owned and operated small businesses. The closing of dealerships saved nothing, and actually caused hundred's of thousands to lose jobs, unnecessarily. Ford was also extremely profitable in the last two quarters.

It's funny, actually; well, okay, I'm not laughing at the moment. I'm out of a job, and the people that employed me for the last 7 years now have a worthless building with too much overhead to operate as much other than a New Car Dealership. But, I digress; Every morning, as a learned Ford Tech, I log(ged) into Ford's website to learn the goings on. One day, there was a notice to dispel the rumors that Ford Motor Company was eliminating the Mercury brand. The next day, that message was gone; couldn't even find it by searching the site. A week later, there was another message, saying that they were eliminating the Mercury brand. But, they were going to really push and promote the Lincoln brand.

Well, I thought, maybe Ford will do something right, bring more Lincoln buyers into our showroom, and make up for the loss of Mercury buyers. A month later, or thereabouts, the big bosses informed us that we have lost our Lincoln franchise, too. Ford, apparently, wants to build the Lincoln into a premier brand. And this includes completely removing their presence from our city. 150,000 in the city, and another 100,000+ in the outlying area. Second or third largest city in Illinois. No. Lincoln. Presence. Really? You want to improve sales by making it more difficult for buyers to find you?

I don't get it. But, then again, I'm just a lowly mechanic, and I'm not supposed to understand, right?

2 comments:

Words don't pay the bills, but I'm sure you will find something soon with your skills. I know the tech schools are churning out kids who work for damned near minimum wage, but somebody has to want an experienced mechanic.

My recommendation is to start a profile on USAJobs. It's a central website for federal government jobs. You could work for the organizational maintenance shop for the National Guard. Or you could get a mechanic job for a federal agency with lots of vehicles, like the GSA.

Also, B.O.L.O. for local government jobs such as transit agencies, police forces, fire departments, etc. The police still drive a lot of Crown Vics, don't they?

The bad news is that state and local governments are laying people off. Illinois is especially problematic with their massive budget deficit. But there are certain jobs that government will always be hiring for. I hope mechanics are one of those jobs.

Government hiring tends to be strictly merit based, so you can get a leg-up over all the kids right out of Wyotech.

You can also start your own business. Check out the Small Business Administration. They are pouring out money right now. If you use the loan for property acquisition, you might make a ton of money on the property as an investment, but your cash flows might be low for a while.

The main hurdle in the technical education is the proper training and placement, But this persist for a long time in the Career and it takes few years to fulfill that need in their experience and skills.